Matt Johnson’s Porsche 944s2 will be available to bid on during an online auction.

By: Sharon Aron Baron

The Johnson family wanted to do anything they could to help their next door neighbors who had just lost their daughter to a school shooter.

Fourteen-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff was Matt and Stacey Johnson’s only babysitter, and they all loved her. “She was perfect. She would bring the children arts and crafts to play with and snuggle with them in bed.”

Alyssa Alhadeff.

After Alyssa died, Matt explained how gut-wrenching it was to explain to their children ages 8 and 12 that Alyssa would no longer be with them. “We loved her to death and my children adored her.”

Since Alyssa’s death, her mother Lori Alhadeff has founded the nonprofit “Make Schools Safe” and announced, although not yet filed, her bid to run for school board in November.

The Johnsons knew they needed to help and support Lori and Ilan as well. A car collector and driving enthusiast who owned several cars, Matt wanted to do his part to help raise money for the nonprofit, by auctioning off one of his own.

He decided on his classic 1990 Porsche 944s2. This was the same Porsche that Jake Ryan drove in “Sixteen Candles.”He said that last Halloween, both he and his wife dressed up as Jake and Samantha from the movie, driving around their Parkland neighborhood with the song “If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins playing from the speakers.

Giving away one of his prized possessions isn’t that big of a deal to Matt. “In my mind this is just giving away a thing. This [school shooting] hit everybody. We just know we needed to help in any way possible.”

Originally from Chicago both Matt and Stacey moved to Parkland in 2015.He works for Bluvision, a security company that is part of HID Global. “We love everything about Parkland, the community, the schools.Best decision we ever made.”

This Porsche has 150,000 miles and is in excellent condition he said.It’s been garage-kept and maintained by a mechanic and is number 363 of only 450 that was imported into North America.The auction will be only one week and will not have a reserve set on it.

“I’m not looking to get the maximum, but I know it should get about $20,000. Itall depends what the market wants,” said Matt. “That’s what’s hard about classic cars.”

Sharon Aron Baron is the Editor of Talk Media and writer for Parkland Talk. She has been covering Parkland news since 2012. Parkland Talk was created to provide News, Views and Entertainment for the residents of Parkland.